Volkswagen

Volkswagen AG, better known as VW, is a German automaker headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. Founded on May 28, 1937 by the German Labour Front, the company was originally called Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH (Gezuvor). The goal was to build an affordable people's car, and Ferdinand Porsche's firm designed the original Beetle. After World War II, British Army officer Ivan Hirst revived the factory and restarted production, a turning point that saved the company.

Over the decades, Volkswagen grew into a global powerhouse. It acquired Auto Union in 1965 (later Audi), then NSU in 1969, and expanded by buying SEAT in the 1980s and Škoda in the early 1990s. Today, Volkswagen is the flagship brand of the Volkswagen Group, which also owns Audi, Porsche, Bentley, and Lamborghini. The company has 111 production facilities across 27 countries and employs hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

Volkswagen's most famous model is the Beetle, a car that became a cultural icon. Other key models include the Golf, Jetta, Passat, and Tiguan. The name Volkswagen comes from the German words Volk (people) and Wagen (car), literally meaning people's car. In 2015, the company faced the Dieselgate emissions scandal, where defeat devices were installed in diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests, affecting about 11 million cars worldwide. Despite this, Volkswagen remains one of the world's largest automakers, ranking second in global sales in 2024 and leading the European market for over two decades. [edit]